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It's been hard not to judge Mother Teresa as a fascist, from what I've known about her. It's possible, though, that she's just one very, very shrewd and wily saint. I know of no information whatever that she was in any way personally corrupt. She truly identified with the poor, and perhaps took the attitude that many poor people feel they have to take: that is, do whatever you have to do, to feed your children, care for the sick, and merely stay alive. With all the millions she was able to funnel into care of the poorest of the poor, she may have gone laughing into Heaven's Bank.
Medieval, is a better word for her. To the Medieval mind, there is no hope for a better life in this world. Your only hope is in the next world. And you get there by accumulating "jewels on your crown in heaven" here. Thus, her good works--AND her enlistment of the rich in contributing to her hospitals and other efforts. She was giving them them the chance to earn diamonds and rubies on their heavenly crowns, in compensation for their sins of greed and exploitation. This is the simple Medieval Christian view that I was taught by imported Polish nuns in the 1950s. Mother Teresa was Albanian--one of the most godforsaken (pardon the adjective) places in eastern Europe, which is generally an enclave of medieval--unenlightened, superstitious--Roman Catholicism, partly due to Soviet communist/local tyrants oppression, cut off from modern Europe for so long. She went from Albania to a convent in India. Her education was rudimentary, and thus her childhood infatuation with the lives of saints and missionaries, and the simple medieval Catholic viewpoint, stayed with her--in my opinion. I doubt she ever read Shakespeare, or Voltaire, or Thomas Jefferson, or William Blake--or even the better Catholic humanist writers like Erasmus, or Teilhard de Chardin--or Dorothy Day! This medieval viewpoint can lead to vast and obscene corruption--as fatcat prelates, kings, popes, robber barons and gangsters wallow in riches and power, and create hell on earth for everyone else--thinking they can then "buy their way into Heaven" with endowments to monasteries, orphanages, etc. But it can also produce some few remarkably saintly people--St. Francis of Assissi comes to mind.
I think that Mother Teresa's views are much more related to her early Catholic upbringing, in isolated circumstances, than they are to politics. I doubt she ever gave politics a thought in her life. And it should be pointed out that her views on abortion are the same as the Catholic Workers. And, we really must understand the absolute sincerity, and consistency, and complete lack of hypocrisy, on this issue, in the case of the Catholic Workers, and probably also in the case of Mother Teresa. The Catholic Workers feed thousands of homeless every day on Skid Row, and spend their weekends protesting nuclear weapons facilities--and sometimes spend months in jail as a result. They actively protest war, capital punishment, and economic injustice--and they oppose abortion. They are NOT the hypocritical, Bushite 'christian' right--which doesn't mind slaughtering babies in Iraq, or profiteering off the malnutrition, hopelessness and deaths of children everywhere, but gets all gushy and sentimental about babies when it comes to women's rights. This Catholic Worker view involves a radical re-ordering of society, such that all pregnant women, children and families are properly cared for, in a responsible and compassionate nation. It is very political--unlike the a-political Mother Teresa. The Catholic Workers would never give photo ops to Duvalier, or Charles Keating, or Bush. They would be on the street carrying protest signs! But their view on abortion is the same as Mother Teresa's.
It's a difficult issue for those who reverence all life. My position: It is absolutely none of the state's or any church's business to dictate to women whether to have a child or not. Period. I may advise a friend, daughter or relative against abortion, in most cases--if she asks. It is her sole right to make that decision. A fetus is not a human being until its mother decides to commit herself to it, for life--or, in situations like adoption--SOMEONE commits to it for life. For 6 or 7 years, that child is going to be nearly 100% dependent on its mother (or surrogate), and partially dependent for another decade--as well as emotionally connected for a lifetime. It is a commitment like no other. It is total. And IF a friend, daughter or relative of mine decides to abort a viable fetus--or won't carry it to term for adoption--then that is a communal failure. She, for whatever reason, has decided that SHE cannot survive and prosper, and fulfill her potential as a human being, with this potential child. And who has created the conditions for her decision? You, me, her family, her community, her city, her nation--with the latter factor, political policy and economics, greatly influencing the conditions of families and communities. Consequently, Reagan's Era of Greed, and Bush's Era of More Greed, have done more to encourage abortion than any other factor in human society. They have created conditions in which women do not feel secure enough to have children, and families and communities do not have the resources to support them. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. And me? Would I raise the child, for the loved one who wanted to abort it? Probably not. Thus ends my right to say what happens.
My position goes beyond the latest liberal position--that abortions should be safe, legal and rare. And it goes entirely around legal or church doctrine. There is only one person who has the right to give birth to, or abort, a fetus, and that is the woman who is carrying it. All the rest of us, including the father, have only the right of advice--and, really, you shouldn't give advice on this matter (opposing an abortion) unless you are willing to raise the child yourself. And, collectively, we bear the responsibility for creating conditions that enhance life and make pro-life decisions more feasible, in all spheres, not just childbirth.
So, I would not condemn Mother Teresa for her anti-abortion position. I think it was sincere, even if it was convenient to fascists. But I much more prefer the Catholic Workers, who don't play nice with the rich, even for charity. They will never be made into "saints," or win the Nobel Peace Prize. But they are surely the most admirable--and open-eyed--advocates for the poor.
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